No bones about it: Salmon abundant locally

Max Jacobson

Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2002 | 8:28 a.m.

Salmon is many people's favorite fish, and there are myriad ways to cook and eat it. There are also several types of salmon available, and the flavor varies greatly from species to species.

Just a few of the more common salmon species include the highly prized Chinook, which spends up to eight years in the ocean; Sockeye, a favorite for canning because of its dark red flesh and richness in oil; and the Coho or silver salmon, which is lighter in both flavor and color.

Salmon has always been an abundant fish in North America, but it wasn't always quite as desirable as it is today. Because it has a wealth of protein and fatty acids, and also because of its rich, meaty texture and vivid orange color, it has become one of the most popular menu items in American dinner houses. It is a favorite for the backyard grill, too.

But in colonial America, salmon was considered a poor man's food. The rivers of the eastern seaboard, such as the Hudson, were literally stocked with millions of spawning salmon. Dickens wrote that salmon and poverty went together, so we can assume that in his time it was not the luxury it is today.

Salmon continue to spawn in the northwest, in rivers such as the Columbia and the Snake, and are abundant in Alaska. But the spawning eastern salmon is largely a thing of the past. Nowadays, when you eat Atlantic salmon, a species rather than a geographical distinction, it is far more likely to have been farm raised than line or net caught.

The difference between farm-raised salmon and wild salmon is dramatic. The tastiness of salmon depends on two factors. The first is how much time it spends in the ocean, and the second is how long a distance it covers to then get to its spawning ground. As the salmon swims, it feeds, and becomes richer in nutrients and flavor. When the salmon is harvested, of course, is also a factor.

Local chefs such as Executive Chef John Botkin of McCormick & Schmick's in the Hughes Center, and Sean Rue, Chef de Cuisine at Emeril's New Orleans Fish House at MGM Grand, couldn't agree more.

Says Botkin, "We get wild Copper River salmon from Alaska in late summer, and other wild salmon sporadically throughout the year, sometimes as early as May, depending on how abundant they are in a given year. The rest of the year, we serve Atlantic salmon, which is milder, not as fatty.

"Copper River salmon is especially sought-after because the Copper River is the longest river in Alaska, and the fish make a long run on it," he says. "This makes them fatty, with a pronounced flavor and a vibrant reddish-orange color, both of which hold through the cooking process."

This is not to say that farm-raised Atlantic salmon, the most likely version of salmon that can be found in a Las Vegas market or restaurant at the moment, is insipid. Actually it is quite good, and local chefs such as Rue get pretty creative with it. But when he gets wild salmon, he'd rather cook it simply.

Salmon, he says, is easy to cook, the only danger being when it is overcooked and hence dried out. To get it raw, any Japanese sushi bar will have some on hand.

For home preparation, there are several good local options. Local supermarkets often offer salmon at reasonable prices. You'll get fresh salmon at Southern Seafood, 2910 S. Highland Drive.

Whole salmon at Southern Seafood weigh anywhere from 9-14 pounds each, and the store also sells whole-side fillets, cut to order, skin on or off, for under $5 per pound. Filleting the fish at home gets a much better price.

Trader Joe's sells both fresh and frozen salmon. The frozen salmon is again farm-raised Atlantic salmon ($3.49 per pound). Wild Oats Markets is offering fresh Atlantic salmon fillets for $4.99 per pound, and during the summer months it always carries wild Alaskan salmon. Prices for wild salmon are usually much higher.

While it is true that the species selection is somewhat limited in town, there is the option of buying fresh salmon on the Internet from a variety of websites and purveyors. The main drawback is cost. Not only is there a relatively high price for the fish, one will have to pay for shipping as well.

For example, lighthousedeli.com sells Chinook king salmon steaks and whole salmon ranging from between 7 and 25 pounds, shipping not included. Buy 5 pounds of these salmon steaks and shipping is included, with a two-day guarantee. One more website to visit is oregongourmet.com, where several types of fresh and smoked salmon can be found.